Chapter 109

The Brigade Leader took a deep drag from his pipe and slowly exhaled, the smoke drifting into the air as if carrying the weight of the passing years. "Cripple Lao Wu, whose real name is Qu Liang, is from Zhongzhou. During the Great Famine in 1960, he begged his way all the way to our parts." The Brigade Leader paused, a glimmer of pity in his eyes. "At the time, he was nothing but skin and bones, his hair a tangled mess and his clothes hanging in tatters. He finally collapsed, half-starved, at the village entrance. The old village chief found him first and rushed to feed him a bowl of corn porridge, pulling him back from the brink of death. Being a kind-hearted man, the chief went door to door, asking every family to contribute a little grain. It wasn't much, but it was enough to keep Qu Liang alive. That was how he survived that winter in a dilapidated shack at the edge of the village. Fortunately, we’re in a mountainous region, and when spring arrived, everything came back to life. Qu Liang started foraging in the mountains, and little by little, he was able to feed himself. And so, he stayed in Wansheng Village."